User blog:Cconan555/Competitive Battling Pt. 3: Being a good Role Model take Priority
'Introduction' By now you've probably seen my previous blog about team building and battling in Loomian Legacy (which you should definitely check out if you haven't!). Truth be told, I thought I was done making these after I talked about how battling was basically a mind-game. But we've got some more things to cover this time around. This time, I'll be talking about two things in Loomian Legacy that are important for your competitive battling experience. These topics are Loomian roles and Move Priority. Also, a lot of this information comes from Smogon, which is like the holy encylclopedia for competitive Pokemon battlers. Here's the page where I got a lot of my information from. Well, let's get right into it. 'Roles' So what are roles? They're specific positions that Loomians fulfill in a team. In my last guide, I talked about how Loomians can't always get the job done by themselves; they'll need some others to support them and deal with their weaknesses. When taken together, they make a team. But roles are more than just "cover X Loomian's weakness to Y type". Roles define a Loomian's objective on a team. It could be trying to completely shut down an opponent's Loomian (ex: Searknight shuts down Gastroak, forcing it to either switch out or be KOd), or to remove traps on the field (ex: Avitross can use Gust to get rid of Poison Barbs) So lets go over some of these roles. Wall: Walls are Loomians that straight up have a massive defensive stat (Melee and/or Ranged), along with high HP. This allows them to essentially soak up damage, which can shut down certain Loomians. A good example is Gastroak. With 115 HP and 115 Ranged Defense, few ranged attackers are able to deal meaningful damage to it. What makes it even better is that it has access to photosynthesis, which allows it to heal back damage. That's not to say it's invincible, as its poor defense stat can be exploited by melee attackers, and some ranged attackers can still chunk Gastroak's HP very well. Tank: Tanks are Loomians that have a good attack and defense stat, allowing them to deal decent damage while being able to withstand multiple hits. Usually they have weaker defensive stats than walls (the main differentiation). A good example would be Obsidrugon; with 99 HP and 124 Melee Defense, as well as a strong 90 Melee Attack, Obsidrugon is able to hit hard and take hard hits, which it can easily deal with thanks to Scapegoat and Beast's Slumber . Wallbreaker: Hmmm I wonder what this is. Just kidding. Wallbreakers are Loomians that have an incredibly high attack stat, allowing them to obliterate anything with poor defensive stats, and dealing high damage to things that do have good defensive stats. The best example for this would be Trumbull (melee). Thanks to its base 134 Melee Attack stat, it can easily tear through most Loomians, and even Loomians that have high defensive stats like Obsidrugon can still lose a good portion of its HP (although a ranged attack would definitely do more). Sweeper: Sweepers are Loomians that have decently strong offensive stats (Melee attack, Ranged attack, Speed), but aren't strong enough to outright OHKO (one-hit Knock-out) a Loomian. Instead, they rely on using setup moves, which boost their stats. Once they are boosted, they can become very hard to deal with, and can potentially end a match before the opponent can do a thing about it. An example would be Duskit; by using Peace of Mind , Duskit is able to boost its Ranged Attack greatly, to the point where it can easily OHKO most Loomians in one blow. Hazard Setters: These Loomians main job is to set up traps on the enemy's side, which damage enemy Loomians. Most of the time, the damage is very minimal, and it won't be taking massive chunks out of a Loomian's HP. Instead, it helps set up guaranteed KOs against the opponent's Loomians. There are times when a Loomian is just barely unable to score a KO on an enemy Loomian; they have the tiniest bit of HP left, but alas they survive. Hazards help ensure that you get that KO onto that Loomian. An example would be Himbrr, who can set up Icicle Trap, which damages Loomians entering the enemy's field. Hazards are also able to pressure opponents from switching out. For example, Terrafly can set up poison barbs, which inflict the poison status condition. This can easily shut down sweepers, who don't want to lose their boosted stats but will eventually faint from poison damage if they don't. Overall, hazards are more of a utility rule. Hazard Clearers: These Loomians make sure that the opponent doesn't get any advantage from using hazards. To do this, they remove hazards from the field. Simple. The best example is Avitross, who can use gust to remove poison barbs from the field (what I mentioned before). Pivots: Pivots are a more interesting role. They either can be defensive, but not super tanky, or offensive, but unable to deal too much damage. Instead pivots attempt to force switches on the opponents side. Defensive pivots are tanky enough that the opponent cannot do much damage unless they switch into a more effective Loomian, while offensive pivots have enough strength to potentially KO an opponent, forcing them to switch out if they want to save their team member. The thing about pivots is that they are hard to really define, since many Loomians can force opponents to switch by virtue of typing alone. I think the best example of a pivot would be Icigool; thanks to its above average defenses (95 HP, 94 M Def, 81 R Def) and a high Melee attack stat, Icigool can pressure many many defensive Loomians like Gastroak into switching out since it won't be able to deal with this threat effectively. Clerics: Clerics take on a more supportive role, focusing on being able to heal their teammates either by removing status conditions or recovering lost HP. A good example of a cleric is Wiki-Wiki, who can use Wonder Herb to remove status conditions. Revenge Killer: Revenge killers are Loomians that are switched in to get revenge by finishing off the opponent's Loomian. They have stats similar to sweepers (good offense but weak defense), but also have access to priority moves (we'll get into this soon) that let them take out the enemy's Loomian before they can react. A good example of a revenge killer would be Vesperatu, whose high attack stat combined with Shadow Sprintallows it to take out weakened targets. Trappers: Trappers function similarly to revenge killers, except instead of using priority moves to dipatch enemies, they rely on "trapping" the opponent into a losing scenario; that is, they cannot switch out because of a certain move, but they don't want to stay in because it's a losing scenario. An example would be Ursoul, who can use Chase Down to prevent the enemy from escaping without a scratch, or take out Loomians weak to its typing. It can even use Steel Trap to completely block the opponent from leaving. Leads: Very simple role. Leads are Loomians you send out at the beginning of battle. They can easily set up hazards early, or can set uup boosting moves that might endanger the opponent. A good example of a lead is Terrafly , who can set up poison barbs early to support its team. Now that you've heard me talk about roles, let me rant about something that I think you should know about all of the Loomians in this game. There are no absolutely completely useless Loomians (yet), only outclassed Loomians. I know what you're thinking. "Stop being an idiot! There's no way Cynamoth or Swolder could be good!" And you'd be right. Kind of. These Loomians still fulfill a role. Cynamoth is a good hazard clearer, while Swolder is a decent wall. The problem is that they are greatly outclassed by their counterparts (like Avitross and Florant). If Avitross didn't exist or at least didn't have gust, then people would use Cynamoth in order to clear entry hazards. If Florant or any other wall wasn't around, then Swolder would actually pretty viable. That's basically how the Smogon system works. Yes, the tiers basically rank Pokemon on viability, but within those tiers, certain Pokemon can flourish. A Pokemon that could be a decent wall may be outclassed in higher tiers, but in lower tiers (where high tier Pokemon are banned), it can be very useful. The problem is that there isn't a true tiering system in this game. All Loomians can be used in battle, with no restrictions. In this case, why choose the more mediocre option when you can have a more effective option? It wouldn't make sense to put yourself at a disadvantage. So yes, Cynamoth isn't great compared to Avitross. But that doesn't make it useless. It can be used, just less effectively. And sometimes, these less viable options can surprise opponents and throw them off their game. 'Move Priority' I talked about this earlier, and you might have been confused as to what I meant by this. Move priority refers to how fast a move is executed. But I don't mean in terms of speed. You know how Dodge always goes first, and it makes it so that you can't hurt the target? That's move priority. Dodge take priority over all other moves, ensuring that it always goes first so that you can't be hurt by attacks. Quick Pounce works similarly to this, except that it's still slower than Dodge. Why? There is a sliding scale for priority moves, which looks something like this: ...+2, +1, 0, -1, -2,... Moves like Quick Pounce have a priority of +1, which means they move faster than most moves, which are at priority 0. There some moves that have negative priority, which moves after all other moves. Currently, the only Loomian to be able to do this is Sedimars, whose Secret Ability Lazy makes it move last by making all of its moves have a lower priority. 'Conclusion' That's pretty much all you have to know about these two topics. Roles define a Loomian's position on the team and how it can deal with other Loomians, and priority talks about why some moves always go first. It's a lot to take in at once, but it will definitely help with team-building. Category:Blog posts